- Sen. Mike Lee urges House Republicans to reject spending bill without DHS funding.
- Lee supports including his election security bill in the spending package.
- House vote on the bill is uncertain with GOP members threatening opposition.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mike Lee is urging his Republican colleagues in the House to reject the most recent spending deal to reopen the government unless it includes language funding the Department of Homeland Security, which was removed in the Senate last week due to objections from Democrats.
The House will vote as early as Tuesday on the trillion-dollar spending package that passed the Senate last week, but its future is uncertain as some conservative Republicans have threatened to oppose unless it includes more GOP policy wins — something Lee has publicly supported.
The Utah senator posted several times on his social media over the weekend urging House Republicans to amend the funding bill to include full DHS spending as well as his election security bill that has run into partisan opposition.
"Americans are tired of watching Democrats stamp their feet and hold DHS funding hostage because President Trump is doing his job and enforcing federal law," Lee told the Deseret News in a statement. "House Republicans should ignore them — and pass the SAVE America Act to secure our elections while they're at it."
Parts of federal government shuttered as of Saturday
The pressure campaign comes after the government entered a partial shutdown early Saturday morning and federal funding for a slew of agencies and departments lapsed. The Senate passed a funding package on Friday afternoon to fund the government, but the legislation faces an uphill battle in the House where Republicans have a slim majority.
The spending package would fund five of the six remaining appropriations bills for the 2026 fiscal year, as well as a two-week extension for DHS as party leaders continue to negotiate new limits for immigration officers. But the agreement to remove DHS funding, brokered by Senate Democrats and the White House, angered some Republicans, such as Lee, who are now calling on conservatives in the House to reject the package unless it is restored.
"Dems had already written way too much of this bill by the time it first passed in the House — and it shows," Lee, who voted against the funding bill, wrote in a post on X. "Then last week, Schumer demanded that the DHS funding provision be replaced with a short, two-week extension (an extension Dems will use as leverage to demand restrictions on ICE and immigration enforcement broadly). Schumer's demand was granted with no corresponding win for Republicans, and the Senate passed the bill."
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., joined Lee's calls to reject the spending bill unless it includes DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, Lee's proposal to ban noncitizens from voting in federal elections and implementing photo ID requirements.
"If House Republicans don't put the DHS bill back in, add the SAVE America Act & remove the wasteful earmarks, Democrats win," Scott wrote in a post on X. "We must protect our homeland, secure our elections & end the reckless spending NOW!"
Some House Republicans are already threatening to withhold their support from the shutdown-ending bill if those two demands are not met, putting the spending package in peril as GOP leaders navigate a one-vote margin in the lower chamber.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., was among the first to say she would oppose the funding package unless the SAVE Act was attached, warning over the weekend she has commitments from other House Republicans to do the same.
"I am getting calls from many members of the House GOP who understand how important the SAVE (America) Act is. They also understand that this is a big deal for their constituents, and they have told me they will back our efforts," Luna said. "If anyone whipping the vote for these appropriations tells you they can't attach the SAVE (America) Act to it bc it is concurrence with the SENATE, they are lying to you."
The House is expected to vote on the spending package as early as Tuesday, but its passage is not guaranteed.
Republican leaders initially planned to put the legislation on the floor under suspension of rules, meaning lawmakers could avoid procedural hurdles so long as Democrats helped pass the bill their party helped negotiate in the Senate.
However, House Democrats came out over the weekend to say they would not help pass the bill — putting the pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to convince some of his most stubborn members to pass the bill even if it doesn't include their demands.
Republicans can only afford to lose one or two members on any given vote, depending on attendance — giving Johnson virtually no room for error. House leaders will huddle for weekly meetings on Monday evening to discuss a path forward.
